1. Field
Various features pertain to wireless communication systems. At least one feature pertains to devices and methods for facilitating power conservation in a wireless client terminal by using a proxy device to receive and forward data to the client terminal via a secondary wireless interface.
2. Background
Client terminals, such as laptop computers, personal digital assistant devices, mobile or cellular phones, or any other device with a processor, that communicate with other devices through wireless signals are becoming increasingly popular. Client terminals are typically battery-powered and the amount of power a battery can provide is limited. With consumers using power-intensive applications that run on the client terminals, particularly entertainment media and imaging applications, conserving battery power is important.
Client terminals may operate in one of several modes depending on the communication standard being implemented in a wireless network. For example, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) includes various types of “connected” modes (e.g., Radio Resource Control states—Cell Dedicated Channel DCH, Cell Forward Access Channel FACH, Cell Paging Channel PCH, and UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) Registration Area (URA) Paging Channel PCH) and an idle mode. Typically, in the connected mode a client terminal may be fully or partially connected to a wireless network to receive and/or transmit data (e.g., voice or data calls or sessions) with one or more access points (e.g., base stations, Node B, femto cell, etc.). In connected mode, conventional client terminals may consume a significant amount of power to sustain circuitry needed to monitor a data channel and/or maintain a connection with the wireless network. In idle mode, the client terminal may monitor control channels, such as a paging channel (PCH) for paging messages. Such paging messages may include messages that alert the client terminal to the occurrence of an incoming data message (e.g., a data packet or segment) and control/overhead messages that carry system information and other information for the client terminal. While power consumption in idle mode is substantially less than in connected mode, there is a longer delay in powering the circuitry and re-establishing a wireless network connection from idle mode if a message is received. This delay is relatively long (e.g., in comparison to delays in connected mode) and would impact the user experience noticeably (e.g., noticeable delay in receiving a message, a dropped message, increased retries from sender, etc.). Thus, maintaining the wireless terminal in a connected mode results in faster power depletion or consumption but switching to idle mode results in a noticeable lag or delay.
Therefore, there is a need for a solution that reduces power consumption of a client terminal while avoiding noticeable delays typically associated with power-conserving modes operation.